CAI and Short Ram Intake

[PatrickP5]

I'm pretty sure I'm going to get an Injen CAI, but first, I need to resolve a few minor questions to make sure I'm getting what I should get. I know these topics have been discussed before, but I don't think the details I'm looking for have (at least I haven't found them yet).

First, I fully understand the concept of the CAI. I guess I don't really understand what the SRI is supposed to be doing and how it does it. What is the "ram" part? All I see is a pipe coming out of the engine getting air from a different place - one not as good a place as the CAI gets it from. Second, I've seen cold air extensions, which as far as I can tell basically make your SRI into a CAI - is this a better or worse setup than just going to CAI?

Thank you to those who can provide an answer or point me to a place where I can find it (How Stuff Works is not a good answer).


Thanks,
Patrick

 

[tonkabui]

before someone yells at your for asking this, there's been discussion about ram air vs. cold air in terms of our particular engine. if you go to the search button up top and in the appropriate field enter "injen and aem" you will get many threads dealing with this.

the gyst of the whole thing is that neither short ram nor cold air will yield significant power gains for our engine. heck, i'm pretty sure the cheapo ebay intakes will yield similar results as with either system. remember though, when you free up the intake, you gotta free up the exhaust as well. and when you get there, you'll realize the downpipe is our biggest restriction.

getting the intake is the first step in a series of steps in order for the car to breathe at its full potential... but then you run the risk of losing some bottom end.

and sign on to the arizona meet if you haven't done so already!

 

[PatrickP5]

before someone yells at your for asking this, there's been discussion about ram air vs. cold air in terms of our particular engine. if you go to the search button up top and in the appropriate field enter "injen and aem" you will get many threads dealing with this.

I know there have been CAI vs. SRI discussions before and I know all about how they both give similar results and also how these results aren't mindboggling.

The base of my questions is this: what does a short ram intake do? I know what it is, I know how it goes into the engine, I know what a CAI is and how it goes into the engine and where it gets the air from. What I don't know is how the ram intake is achieving a performance gain. Nobody has answered this yet that I've seen.


Patrick

 

[herarety]

Basically, have a looksie at your stock maze..er, intake. The short ram is just a simpler way of inducting air, with bigger piping as well.

 

[cbcbd]

Basically, have a looksie at your stock maze..er, intake. The short ram is just a simpler way of inducting air, with bigger piping as well.

Yeah, maze describes it well. Too many nooks and crannies and moisture traps and resonator...

It's funny how empty the engine bay looks when you take out the stock intake. There's just a big whole in there, begging for a turbo kit to fill it in

 

[azeli73]

The "performance gain" is acheived by removing the bulky stock intake and replacing it with a better breathing intake. Short ram is going to be sucking in hotter air and CAI will pull in cooler air.

 

[PatrickP5]

Alright. Thanks to those who have given honest helpful answers. I knew that the real difference is that the CAI brings in cold air (hence the name) and the SRI brings in warmer air. The answer I was really looking for I have now finally found. It's really what I suspected all along, but I wanted someone to confirm it.

This is it: the SRI is getting a gain because it's getting air forced into it - its advantage is it gets air rammed in there from the forward motion of the car and therefore brings more air to the engine, as opposed to the CAI bringing cold air - almost as if it's a (very) mini turbo effect. It's lined up so that air coming in from the front of the car rams itself into the SRI.

Thanks again to those who cared to give a good answer and not just the knee-jerk "do a search" reply to any thread that says "CAI vs. SRI."


Patrick

 

[tonkabui]

i didn't mean for it to sound like i was telling you to do a search... just suggesting that if you did need to search, you would find a wealth of information here. there are actually a couple of manufacturers that make a ram hood for the ram air intake. i know dgm makes one from carbon fiber, but it's pricey. there was another one that had the hood scoop look like the wrx, and that was about 600-700 if i remember correctly. each would give you even better performance than the cai since you are actually ramming air into the intake when you are at speed.

 

[PatrickP5]

i didn't mean for it to sound like i was telling you to do a search... just suggesting that if you did need to search, you would find a wealth of information here. there are actually a couple of manufacturers that make a ram hood for the ram air intake. i know dgm makes one from carbon fiber, but it's pricey. there was another one that had the hood scoop look like the wrx, and that was about 600-700 if i remember correctly. each would give you even better performance than the cai since you are actually ramming air into the intake when you are at speed.

Thanks. I understand where you're coming from with the search thing - it's just that I've had frustrating results recently with people just saying "do a search" seemingly without even reading my post.

Do you have any more info on these hoods, like how much additional gain there is to it? I'd feel retarded getting some big hood scoop and have it be entirely looks. If it looked pretty cool and not too over-the-top, as well as delivered some gain, I'd think about going this way. Also, am I going to have a problem with too much air ramming in there if I get this?

And yes, I will do a search. = )


Thanks,
Patrick

 

[ProtegeES2003]

misconception

Ram air intake is actually a lie. Due to the atmospheric conditions and pressure, "ram" air in impossible. You won't be raming anything into your air intake, it will just suck up the air that it's getting. You can take off your hood and drive around at 200 mph and it still wouldn't ram air into your intake. There isn't not enough force to create any kind of pressure on the intake.
The idea behind cold air intake is that cold air creates a better combustion within the engine, but it's so minut, you're talking about a 1/2 - 1 hp gain over the RAI. But you want a quality intake, i'm sure the bomz and ractive intake are fine, but my friend has cautioned me to do intake right, he has a 240 sx w/ ractive intake and he wishes he got the AEM or Injen first, I dunno what the difference would be between generic or the more "quality"intakes.
The hood scoop on the WRX is for the intercooler.